Irene was interviewed by Penny Arnold for
Look Up Your Genes on BBC Radio Wales during a roadshow visit to her hometown of Blackwood.
She said her great-grandfather George Henry Stockdale was a musician, possibly from Yorkshire, who settled in the East End of London.
Irene herself was born in the capital but came to south east Wales at the age of three.
She was evacuated to Bargoed with her mother and elder sister when war broke out.
After the end of hostilities, they briefly returned to London but came back to stay with Uncle Will in Bargoed after her mother's marriage broke up.
Despite her London origins, Irene says she considers herself to be Welsh, with the dispersed nature of her family fuelling her interest in family history.
While tracing her roots, she found she had a half-sister called Gilda.
She was able to tell her a lot about their father Frank who, like Irene's mother, played the piano.
Irene says her sons Nicky and Patrick Jones, a poet and writer, are very interested in their roots, but find it strange that so much of their family history comes from England.
More about Look Up Your Genes on BBC Radio Wales
